Michigan woman's blood found at scene of her abduction, police say

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Police have released a sketch of a suspect in the abduction of Michigan gas station cashier Jessica Heeringa, 25.

Story highlights

Police say blood found at a North Shores service station belongs to Jessica Heeringa

She was taken from the station late last month, police say

Suspect is a white male, 30 to 40 years old, 6 feet tall with wavy hair parted in the middle

Police also are looking for a silver minivan

Blood found on the scene of a Michigan kidnapping belonged to the victim, police said Thursday.

Jessica Heeringa, 25, was abducted late last month from an Exxon station in Norton Shores, where she was working alone, sometime around 11 p.m., police have said.

Investigators found "suspicious substances" at the station and turned them in to the state's crime lab, which identified some of it as blood. A DNA analysis matched it to Heeringa, the Norton Shores Police Department said.

The amount of blood found was small, police said. Authorities notified the family of the findings.

Heeringa's mother, Shelly Heeringa, has said that she suspects someone familiar with the gas station and possibly known to Jessica took her daughter.

"I think whoever did this had been in the gas station before and maybe Jessie knew him," Shelly Heeringa said.

"He probably lured her out by saying he needed help," she said. "Jessie would have helped anybody. And that was probably her downfall."

Lack of surveillance images

The station did not have security cameras, something that police said has hindered the investigation and that Shelly Heeringa said always troubled her.

"When I knew she was working there, when I knew (the store) had no security cameras, when she was going to be by herself, I expressed my concern about it all the time to her how worried I was," the mother said.

But those concerns apparently didn't trouble Jessica.

"She just thought she could handle everything," Shelly Heeringa said.

The mother also thanked the community of 22,500 on the shores of Lake Michigan for its support in the search for her daughter.

"So many people have been trying to help us find Jessie. It's just been wonderful," she said.

People with information that may help find Jessica Heeringa are asked to call Norton Shores police at 231-733-2691.